laptop xp screen

my niece has an xp laptop,the screen has went blank and is now showing coloured up and down lines,i plugged a monitor into it,and the monitor is showing normal xp screen,what can i do,as the monitor is not hers and she cant afford one

See if it starts in safe mode keep tapping F5 or f8 as the computer starts and go into safe mode with networking.
Go into device manager and click on Display Adapters and it should tell you what she has installed on her computer.

Double click on that and click on driver.And try and update the driver.

Not sure if you can do that in normal conditions with the external monitor plugged in whether it would find the driver for that or not.

No doubt someone will be able to give you better advice but it gives you something to try while waiting.

Even using the external monitor it should tell you what graphics card is being used just a matter of going to the makers site and downloading the latest driver for it.

Not quite sure why the external monitor will work and not the usual screen if there is a driver/graphics chip problem. More likely to be the lead connecting the screen to mobo, but that requires considerable dismantling to change. Other alternative is that it's the screen itself. Prices vary from £15 to over a hundred, depending on the make (plus fitting).

Monitor is dying, just to be sure you can plug another desk top monitor into your laptop and if it functions just fine you will know for sure that you laptop monitor is on the way out, and they are pretty expense to replace unless its under warranty.